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Big Brother is Watching you

This poster comes from the ground breaking novel 1984 by George Orwell. It is the poster/phrase that has become synonymous with the novel, big brother is watching you. It has inspired many parodies, however it itself is a parody. Interestingly it is not actually a parody of any Soviet or Nazi propaganda, but rather a mail order correspondence course. These billboards were put up by Bennet’s during World War II. These posters had the kind looking older Bennet with the words let me by your father on them. While these seem to have influenced George Orwell, one only has to look to the son posters to see how deeply they influenced him. When Bennet Sr. died, his son took over the business and had similar posters made featuring his face. However, while Bennet Sr. was friendly and comforting, the Bennet Jr. looked stern and upset. This matches the Big Brother is watching you poster perfectly. Also the tagline of these posters was “let me be your big brother”. Thus one could argue that the big brother posters are a parody or at the very least inspired heavily by these posters.
Now it should be said that these posters have a completely different purpose, as in the book they are supposed to represent the power of the tyrannical big brother. They represent big brother has having complete control over the world and he is always watching you. In this sense big brother is a bit like the Soviet Union. In fact, I would argue that Big Brother and his propaganda campaign can and should be seen as a parody of the Soviet Union. First of all this idea of big brother watching over you is very similar to the propaganda campaign that was run by Josef Stalin (that I will henceforth refer to as the cult of Stalin). For example, consider the poster Stalin the Father, where the viewer sees Stalin hard at work in the Kremlin late in the night. Stalin seems to be working hard to make sure that the rest of the Soviet Union is safe. There is this idea that Stalin was a superman who was trying to save the Soviet Union and the only one that could do it, there was this almost dedication of him. In Bending Spines Bytwerk argues that a similar deification happened in Nazi Germany. This concept of deification seems to be what Orwell is mocking or parodying. This idea that the leader is everywhere and is all seeing, and he also seems to be showing us how utterly terrifying this idea is. If Stalin, Big Brother or Hitler actually is a god that is all knowing all seeing then the population should be terrified. Orwell does parody other things in his book as there are other slogans, but I personally think this is what he is parodying and mocking in the Iconic Big Brother is watching you poster.